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Keystone Pipeline: Suddenly the President Opposes Temporary Jobs

President Obama recently gave a wide-ranging interview to the New York Times, in which the topic of the Keystone pipeline was rehashed. In it, the President mocked the idea that Keystone could be a job creator as Republicans have touted, because those jobs would be temporary construction positions.

MR. OBAMA: Well, first of all, Michael, Republicans have said that this would be a big jobs generator. There is no evidence that that’s true. And my hope would be that any reporter who is looking at the facts would take the time to confirm that the most realistic estimates are this might create maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline -- which might take a year or two -- and then after that we’re talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 [chuckles] jobs in a economy of 150 million working people.

NYT: Yet there are a number of unions who want you to approve this.

MR. OBAMA: Well, look, they might like to see 2,000 jobs initially. But that is a blip relative to the need.

A blip relative to the need? Two things here...

First, odd that the President would laugh and joke about the prospect of creating temporary jobs, when the entirety of his first term was predicated solely on the concept of creating temporary jobs to boost stats in a recession, by way of the stimulus. Remember the "Summer of Recovery?" The very recovery itself was temporary.

A 2010 report in the Wall Street Journal provides some insight into this. When multiple billions of dollars were being spent on environmental cleanup projects using stimulus money, a good portion were designed to stimulate the economy immediately, creating a slew of temporary job opportunities.

“… projects that employ people quickly are often considered ‘low-hanging fruit’ and can fail to set the stage for long-term economic growth.”

In other words, money was being shoveled into projects that served as little more than a short-term Band-Aid on a long-term wound.

The stimulus was such an utter disaster for creating long-term employment, that one company in particular, CH2M Hill, took to using a Department of Energy ploy to inflate job numbers - they counted a completely fabricated metric known as "lives touched."

That same company ended up losing jobs overall after their stimulus money dried up.

And now to the second, and perhaps more important point - the President is completely wrong about Keystone providing less than 100 jobs. Because, well, math is hard.

If completed, the Keystone XL pipeline would have a significant, positive impact on U.S. jobs and growth. The pipeline would certainly provide contracting jobs during construction as the President states, but what he ignores completely are the well-paid energy sector jobs that would be created once operational.

A study by the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Inc. (EPRINC), finds that Keystone XL alone could contribute $20 billion to the U.S. economy, while the transportation and processing of Canadian oil sands would inject another $100 - $600 million annually.

Jobs-wise, TransCanada estimates that roughly 13,000 construction jobs would be created almost immediately, a far cry above the 2,000 that Obama stated. Even so, another study from the Canadian Energy Research Institute indicates that full utilization of the Canadian oil sands could support as many as 600,000 new American jobs by 2035.

Bottom line: A President who sang the praises of temporary job creation under his economic stimulus plan, should not be turning his nose up at the prospect of creating thousands of construction jobs via approval of the Keystone pipeline. And he most certainly shouldn't be discussing job numbers by the dozens when multiple studies have shown the economic benefits of the project ranging in the tens of thousands of jobs created.

The President needs to stop lying to a clear majority of Americans - at 70% - who say build the pipeline, simply to satiate a handful of far-left eco-extremists who oppose its construction.

Now class; Economics 101: Keystone XL Pipeline = more crude oil available to American customers. More oil/fuel available = price of said oil/fuel drops (assuming free market system survives). Fuel prices drop = more customers can afford to purchase said fuel. More customers purchasing fuel = customers lives improve i.e. brighter more comfortable homes, increased mobility/freedom of movement(bonus: increased tax revenue income for the G), (bonus bonus: customer dollars previously spent on outrageously priced fuels now liberated to be spent on other 'outrageous' goods and services = creating more business opportunities for thusly motivated individuals to provide such goods and services for purchace (heavens! even more tax revenue for the G!!) One could wonder if it's the eco-extremist crowd this President is catering to as much as the Progressive Administrator State crowd. After all, a mobile population with a robust economy is much more difficult to 'manage' than a stagnent hopless dependent one.... ....talk amungust yourselves.....

Solyndra is the latest in the long list of “green energy” companies that have failed after being artificially propped up by the Obama administration. The solar panel manufacturer that received more than $500 million in federal “stimulus” loans declared bankruptcy a couple weeks ago.

“They took our jobs!!!” This is the mantra that the creators of South Park have so endearingly given to middle class America. However, despite their malicious intent, they may have stumbled across something. Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the new economic data for the month of June and the http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-08/u-s-payroll

General Electric reported that its first-quarter earnings have increased by 77 percent compared to the fourth-quarter of 2010. This comes as the New York Times reported that GE paid zilch on their taxes, while raking in over $14 billion in profits in 2010. Even worse, GE actually received $3.2 billion in tax benefits.

"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I'll get on my knees and pray We don't get fooled again Don't get fooled again No, no!, Meet the new boss Same as the old boss" - The Who, "We Won't Get Fooled Again"What The Who lament here is that despite how things change, they always stay the same. With politics and power, nothing rings more true.

Rising energy and gas prices are ravaging the wallets of American citizens and President Obama has taken bold, decisive steps in order to secure an abundant supply of oil in the United States for the foreseeable future. This bold plan entails the outsourcing of American energy production to other countries such as Brazil. Indeed, this new strategy represents the stale status quo that has been on autopilot for as long as Americans ca

The late Noble Prize winning economist Milton Friedman once stated:When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about how much he spends and how he spends it…And when a man spends someone else's money on someone else, he doesn't care how much he spends or what he spends it on.

A government with moral and legal authority promulgates written rules and universally, impartially and uniformly enforces the rules, which provides a predictable and stable legal order on which to base economic and personal decisions. The law prevails, not the proclamation or arbitrary decision of a ruler, government bureaucrat, the enforcer (e.g., policeman) or judge.

Rumors are swirling in Washington, D.C. about a potential "Lame Duck" session that could be held right after the November elections and before the new Congress is sworn-in. If liberals are thrown out of power in Congress this election cycle, the pressure will be that much greater and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will pull out all the stops as a last gasp to enact their socialist agenda. Specifically, the far left will be doing whatever they can to: 1. Pass the Cap and Trade Energy Tax Hike! 2. Slap American Taxpayers with another "Stimulus" Bailout Scheme!

A fair share of congressional Democrats have expressed confusion and dissatisfaction with President Obama’s 2011 FY budget proposals. Since the budget was released, it has increasingly been subject to heavy scrutiny and criticisms among Democrats. In addition to fiscally conservative Republicans, a growing number of Democrats are realizing that, in many ways, Obama’s budget is impractical and too costly.